Paul B. Thompson (1)Reseñas

F/SF

8B6V8ZSH

I read the three books seperately, but as I saw this omnibus, I decided to buy it as well as a sort of backup. Anyway, see my respective reviews of the trilogy at the following locations:

Firstborn - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191106156
The Kinslayer Wars - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191106157
The Qualinesti - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/191106158

copy-pasted from my Librarything account: At times a bit hard to get through, but overall this is a very nice book, though I had thought Sturm to be a bit stronger(-willed) towards the end.

copy-pasted from my Librarything account: very nice read, good characters, story sometimes a bit too simple, but overall a very nice read. The ending may be a bit too fast written, simple and cut short.

Enkele passages waren wat eenvoudig/simpel geschreven, maar algemeen gezien was het leuk om te lezen hoe Riverwind met de "verstotene"/dakloze/idioot van het dorp Catchflea (Catchstar, hoe je het ook bekijkt) op avontuur trekt om te bewijzen dat de goden nog bestaan en Krynn niet verlaten hebben na de Cataclysm. En hoe ze dan opgepakt worden, strijden voor gerechtigheid, op hun weg terug naar de bovengrond enkele draconians en goblins uit de weg moeten ruimen... In het echt hebben we pendelaars e.d., Catchflea gebruikt eikels om bepaalde beslissingen te nemen. Spijtig genoeg is het hij die later het loodje legt. Ik had gedacht dat hij weer zou opgenomen worden in de Que Shu groep. Maar goed, Riverwind ontdekt uiteindelijk toch dat de goden nog bestaan, door de staf van Mishakal, die later Goldmoons accessoire/wapen wordt.

Het einde was wel een beetje flets, 'k had meer actie verwacht. Maar da's slechts een klein onderdeel en van minder belang.

copy-pasted from my Librarything account: Still, nice ending of the trilogy. In this part Ulvian breaks away with the evil Drulethen (evil wizard, personification of the god Hiddukel), but in the end he gets the amulet and is again on the path of evil. Greenhands, the son of Kith-Kanan and Anaya comes into the picture and ultimately becomes the new speaker of the, after having given his father the mortal strike with the hammer that helped build Qualinost. Ulvian is sent away, without process or anything. So this ending is open. KK indeed suffers the consequences from the blow.

copy-pasted from my Librarything account: Reads quite smoothly. Great to see how two brothers are separated, each leading a different life: one out in the forest, learning to surive and be one with nature; the other surrounded by rules, regulations, family, servants, richness and more. The sheer contrast alone is makes this a very fine story. Also how to deal with other nations, how to find an agreement and so on. This book has it all: love, friendship, deceit, politics, justice, ... One remark, though: here and there a lack of full stops, commas, and so on, which makes reading a bit 'difficult'. Editing error?

well written but for a young audience - plot remains basic - slightly likable characters

My wife wanted to read a "D&D Novel", she has played before, but never read a novel based in a D&D world. We got to about page 100 before I pulled the plug. The elves weren't majestic or mysterious, really no different from humans. The story overall seemed kind of "young adult" and we've been reading a lot of gritty, adult fantasy lately so it just seemed really slow and juvenile.

The first two books of the trilogy were just OK. I enjoyed them and the story was interesting but I found myself putting other books ahead of them. The third book however, was far more interesting to me. I got through it pretty quickly and really enjoyed it.½

Amero and Duranix has founded the village of Yala-tene and a cult to the dragon has arisen with a fanatic zeal. Tiphan leads the cult and makes waves for Chief Amero, but their threat is minimal compared to the threat of Sthenn, the green dragon and his army to the West.

This is a terrific story, and no prior knowledge of the Dragonlance world is really required. This novel, the first of a trilogy, just happens to share the same setting. The story is full of twists and it gets more complex as it unfolds; this trilogy is compelling and a great read. Along with the [b:Legends trilogy|29187|Time of the Twins (Dragonlance Legends, #1)|Margaret Weis|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390667790s/29187.jpg|852], this is undoubtedly my favourite Dragonlance story. Highly recommended.

This book is an interesting tale about a young man's introduction to the magical world when he is gleaned to work for the sorcerer's Guild of Constant Working. Mikal soon learns of the magical world around him and about the politics within the Guild. He has a metal talking head that assists him and his friend Lyra. This would be a good book for young readers since it does introduce the readers to a new world.

One of the spin-off series from the original Dragonlance trilogy. This one concerns itself with what happened to the characters before the major story, delves into how their personalities were shaped. Volume one follows Kitiara Uth Matar and Sturm Brightblade on a trip north to seek mercenary work and solve the mystery of a family’s history respectively. They encounter many strange things, chief of which is a group of gnomes in an airship. This leads them to fly to one of the world’s three moons among other things. As is the case in other spin-offs, the material suffers from the interpretation of secondary authors. Here, character traits and cliches abound, as the writers ape material from the originals. Not that they are bad writers; it was just that even the new settings, materials and characters were written in such a way that it felt like the authors were trying too hard to claim a legitimate piece of history in the Dragonlance series.

Back to the world of Krynn in the first book of the Preludes Trilogy. The series follows the main characters from the DragonLance Chronicles trilogy in the years before the series starts. Darkness & Light follows Kitiara, the fiesty female mercenary, and Sturm Brightblade, the honorable Solamnic knight, as they set off on an adventure to find Sturm's home and family. A home which was ravaged and burnd when we was a small child, a family that has scattered to the winds. Along the way they run into an interesting group of gnomes and their flying ship. The flying ship, a gnomish invention that actually works, whisks them off and up even better and further than anyone suspected it could....right up to one of the moons. The moon, called Lunitari, is full of surprises and its own brand of magic. As the group tries to find its way home, they are put to the test physically and mentally.

This story could have been fantastic. It's all there. The crazy storyline and the unique characters should have been a slam dunk of a book. Unfortunately it wasn't. The writing style was a little choppy, with lots of action happening far too quickly and down time that seems stragely out of place. The conflicts between the characters are almost comical at times, but it lacked a serious side that I had become used to in the series.

2.5/5½

Well this one didn’t impress me much. Here are some familiar characters that were key in the main Dragonlance storyline in a time that we’ve heard about in the past but this is the first I’ve seen the details of what occurred…I was excited to get into this one as I thought some questions would be answered. Well I was disappointed. I’m not even sure if the continuity was upheld in this one when taking into account later novels. Not necessarily the author’s fault, but I just felt there was a disconnect here. Read it if you you’re keeping up with all the Dragonlance novels, otherwise you could pass this one by.

While book 2 was the strongest in the trilogy, I felt this was the weakest. Some things that were setup in book 1 finally appear, but still leave an empty feeling after reading. It was starting to get pretty good, then I looked down and I only had a few chapters to go. This book seemed like an attempt to tidy up loose ends and even some of those were left hanging. Overall, not a bad story, just not that great either. However, like I’ve said before, this is essential reading in the DragonLance world.

I read this trilogy many years ago (I believe it was back in early 1992). I’ve been going through all of my old DragonLance books and picking up new ones along the way and it was time to read back through the Elven Nations Trilogy.

While this was a quick read and a good story, it wasn’t as good as I once remembered it if I take it as an individual book. But taken as a whole, this book sets the scene for the rest of the trilogy and the next two books are where the action lies.

If you like traditional fantasy, and the ocean's depths, chances are that the Dargonesti will be right up your alley. Its the same style as all them D&D books, and LoTR, but takes place in the ocean, in a place similar to Atlantis.

Destiny by Paul Thompson and Tonya Cook is the third, and final, book in the Elven Exiles trilogy set in the Dragonlance world. The first book is titled Sanctuary (Dragonlance: Elven Exiles, Vol. 1) and the second book is titled Alliances (Dragonlance: Elven Exiles, Vol. 2). First and foremost if you are a fan of the Dragonlance world and are considering reading this book, you first need to read the other two books. This is strictly so that all the events, hints, and such present in this book make more sense, than they would if you simply started with this book.

The plot of this novel carries over right from the end of Aliances. The elves are in the valley of Inath-Wakenti. Adala, the plainswoman is still plotting against the elves, and the town of Khuri-Khan has its own problems. The main plot line of this book is how the elves adapt to the valley and staying alive long enough to thrive there. There are several obstacles that they must face in order to do so. There is also a smaller plot involving a wizard and his interest in the valley, and actions that he pursues in the valley. Overall, this is a solid plot and one that is well laid out. Mr. Thompson and Ms. Cook once again prove that they work very well together. There are, however, a couple points where this novel seems to dramatically slow down and become bogged down in needless conversations and redundancies in making sure the readers understand plot points. This only happened a couple of times and doesn't affect the story as a whole, but it was enough of an issue that I noticed it.

The characters in this book are all the familiar names from the first two books, well, those who have survived the first two books anyway. Characters such as; Gilthas, Kerianseray, Porthios, alhan etc., all make appearances in this book. From book two, we know that Gilthas is suffering from a very serious malady, this holds true for this novel as well. Porthios is his normal self in this novel, crass and demeaning to those around him. I do need to point out that about halfway through the novel I was beginning to worry that character development would be thrown out the window. There didn't seem to be much, if any, emphasis on character development. However, the last half of the book, there is a great deal of character development that takes place. While I appreciate the character development that does occur, at times it seems a little forced as well as being too much at one time. I can see how some fans may be confused, or maybe even put off by how things happen in this novel. If you look at it as a complete piece, and not the sum of its parts, there is a fair amount of character development and the development that does occur makes sense.

I do have a couple of criticisms about this novel. One of which is a little bit of a spoiler so be warned.

First, as I mentioned above, the middle of the book seems to get bogged down with unnecessary repeating of plot points and, what I considered, unnecessary conversations between a couple of characters.

Secondly, the plot pint involving the wizard didn't seem to fit together very well with the rest of the three novels. In the first two books it wasn't in the forefront as much as it was in this novel. When the perspective switched to this plot piece it almost felt like I was reading a different book. It just felt, odd to me.

*** SPOILER***

Lastly, there comes a point in the story where Porthios takes a group of elves to try and take back Qualinesti. That is a very important part of this book as the elves that are together now split into two groups. However, once he leaves there is no further mention of him at all. It's almost like he disappeared completely. I thought they could of at least mentioned something about him and his group. If it will be a further story/series, the least they could have done was having the group outside of Qualinesti ready to enter the forest.

***End of SPOILERS***

With all that said, I did enjoy this book. For the most part it was a fitting conclusion to he trilogy and wrapped up several plot points throughout the entire trilogy. As well as raising a few more that can be used at a later time to keep the stories going. I really like where the elves ended up with this trilogy. As I said in the review of the first book, I was not a fan of the Dragonlance elves before this trilogy. However, now that I have finished it, I am more of a fan and there are several characters that I would not mind reading more about later.

Fans of the Dragonlance world should certainly read this trilogy. I also think that most fantasy fans in general will also appreciate parts of this entire trilogy. Readers looking to break into the fantasy genre may find things they enjoy as well, however, I would suggest starting with the Dragonlance Chronicles if you are looking into Dragonlance books. Then bridging out from there. This is certainly a series I will be recommending to many people as I quite enjoyed it.

After a brief reunion with the rest of the gang in Solace, Sturm and Kit head north; Sturm to find his father and his heritage, and Kit to find ways to entertain herself. Along the road they bump into a gaggle of gnomes who are having a bit of trouble with their flying ship. Obviously, Sturm and Kit and help, but once in the air, calamity strikes again sending the passengers and crew on a one way ticket to Lunitari, the Red Moon of neutrality. Adventures abound. Finally, like all good sitcoms, the team makes it back to Krynn without any proof or telling signs that they actually landed on Lunitari...

There were a couple of good running jokes with the gnomes. Kit was just always too traditionally chaotic/neutral, and Sturm always too lawful good to have any real growth opportunities. In the end, the foundation is laid for Kit's eventually impaling Sturm (as described in the Chronicles). But far too much of the book was absolutely worthless in terms of the story - large (several chapter long) excursions that don't advance the plot at all and may provide a single, small nugget of insight that simply backstory or narrator-given insight could have easily provided.

In all, I wasn't terribly impressed. The book seemed too long by a half, and the basic premise of the main storyline seemed too outlandish for me to swallow.

Read 10/1007

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/2527/book/DargonestiB.html

This is a very complete summery of every single thing from that book.½

I picked this book up on a whim - in a dollar store. Talk about getting my money's worth! You have the classic archetype characters from an RPG (archer, rogue, etc.) and a surprisingly good fantasy adventure story. If you can find a copy, it's well worth reading.½

Not a great novel, but better than Niles!½

Not a great book, but interesting.